Regular prostate exams are recommended for men over age 40. Tomorrow during the celebrity-packed Stand Up For Cancer TV show, Brad Garrett will draw attention to the importance of the exam in a brand new way. He's going to get a prostate exam... on TV.

I can't imagine how -- or what -- they're planning to show on TV. After all, prostate exams are necessary, but they're not exactly fodder for family viewing. But, knowing Brad Garrett, I'm sure they'll make it humorous and humor is often an excellent way to draw attention to serious issues.

Tune in to Stand Up to Cancer on September 5th. The special airs on ABC, NBC, and CBS.

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Sometimes I worry about my bones. My grandma had osteoporosis, and my mom is taking measures to keep from falling prey to the same condition. Seems I should follow suit. Here's how I might bone up on staying strong, according to RemedyLife.com.

• Eat a diet rich in calcium and take a vitamin D supplement.
• Get at least 30 minutes of exercise, like walking and running, most days of the week.
• Engage in strength-training at least two days per week.
• Get a bone density screening at the time of menopause (or around age 50).
• Limit salt intake -- it causes the body to excrete calcium.
• Limit soft drinks.
• Don't smoke.
• Don't consume more than one or two alcoholic drinks per day.

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Here I thought Cosmo was all about sex, seduction, and giving men what they really want. Not so. The magazine also dishes out a lesson or two on health. Right now on its website is a whole how-to piece on giving your skin a monthly once-over in the name of cancer prevention.

In addition to an annual dermatologist screening, you should be following these simple steps. Find something suspicious? Report it to your doc right away.

• Start at the bottoms of your feet and work your way up your legs, torso, back, and arms. Carefully examine every mole and mark. Don't forget to look at your nails and hair. Look underneath every strand of hair. If you need to, use a blow-dryer to part the hair.
• Look for ABCD – asymmetry (one side doesn't match the other), a jagged border, a color that is not brown or contains more than one color within one mark, and/or a diameter larger than a quarter inch.
  
• Document the description of any spot and its location so you can tell your doctor.

My two cents: Have a partner check out hard-to-see areas and consider using a digital camera to capture your spots. Save them on your computer and compare each month's photos.

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If you've got a skin lesion larger than six millimeters in diameter, it could be melanoma, says a new study finding that supports the widespread use of diameter guidelines to screen for this deadly cancer.

The "ABCDE" screening method looks at five characteristics of melanoma: asymmetry, border irregularity, color variegation, diameter larger than six millimeters, and changes in a lesion. Some experts caution that looking for only the six-diameter skin spots will cause doctors to miss smaller melanomas. But the researchers involved in this study do not recommend a downward revision of the D criteria at this time.

I say pay attention to each and every one of your skin lesions. Consider the ABCDE components yourself and seek medical attention for anything that seems out of the ordinary, regardless of size, just to be safe. Be sure to see a dermatologist every year for a skin cancer screening. And be safe when you're in the sun by avoiding the rays between 10 am and 4 pm, wearing sun-protective clothing when exposed to sunlight, using sunscreen with a sun protective factor (SPF) of 15 or higher, and avoiding artificial sources of ultraviolet light.

Check out this National Council on Skin Cancer site for more on preserving your skin.

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50%. As many as 50% of cancer deaths could be avoided by making healthy lifestyle choices. 50%! That's huge. A recent American Cancer Society report states that, as we already knew, a healthy lifestyle can reduce cancer risk. But adding to that, the report states that 50% of deaths could be avoided. Good nutrition, not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, keeping alcohol to a minimum, and getting the appropriate medical screenings (check with your doctor for specific recommendations) are all important in preserving your good health.

More than 170,000 cancer deaths in the US are related to smoking; quitting may be the most important step you take to reduce your risk of cancer. Obesity is another prominent factor in cancer risk; it's the root of more than 180,000 US cancer deaths each year.

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If you're over 65, now is the time to look after health, especially if haven't been doing so up until now. And the most important thing if to talk to your doctor, to be fully honest about your health history and to get the important tests done, no matter how unappealing they may seem. Want to know which are the most important? According to AOL Body, these are ones you can't miss; your life could depend on it:

• A hearing and eye exam
• A skin cancer screening
• A colonoscopy
• Regular blood pressure screenings
• A bone density test
• A blood sugar test
• Cholesterol screening

For more advice on tests and screening, click here.

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With autism continuing to be in the national medical spotlight, a leading pediatrician group in the U.S. is now installing its largest movement yet to have all children screened for autism before the age of two.

The reason for this is to help parents and doctors spot actual autism much earlier than today -- everything from no babbling to not looking at toys. Early therapy can lessen the severity of the disorder, although there is no known cure.

The report from the pediatrician's group lists several early warning signs, many of which center on social or language construction disappearance or difficulty in those early years.

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Let's face it, nobody enjoys going for their yearly Pap test. It's just one of those parts of being an adult that we women do because it's good for our health (and unfortunately way too many women don't bother at all). I assume men feel the same way about prostrate exams. It's not fun, but still we've got to get it done.

The good news is that apparently a new, more effective test to screen for cervical cancer has been developed. A study conducted at McGill University, which is about to published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the HPV test was able to detect pre-cancerous lesions in up to 94.6% of study participants while the Pap test discovered only 55.4%. That's a pretty major difference, especially where cancer screening is concerned.

Also, according to the article, women who receive negative results from an HPV test, which screens for the HPV virus which causes most if not all cases of cervical cancer, will only have to repeat the exam every 3 years. Unfortunately, those who have the HPV test and receive a positive result will also have to undergo the Pap test to check for pre-cancerous cells. If you want to know more about the study, take a look at the entire article here and for more information on the HPV test, consult your physician.

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Osteoporosis is often considered a condition of middle-aged women, but testing is recommended for some men too. The condition, which is caused by a lack of calcium and leads to brittle bones that are prone to breakage, can be detrimental to men who are over 80 years old and/or those who've had previous fractures or breaks, a study shows. The study measured how cost-effective it was to screen men between 65 and 85 compared with the quality of life a screening and subsequent treatment could provide.

That said, men under 80 and those who've never had a fracture could still benefit from osteoporosis screening -- it just might not be as cost-effective.

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Being overweight increases a woman's risk of getting cancer, but sadly is also decreases the odds that she'll get screened and tested for it as recommended. A study shows that despite doctors recommending tests like clinical breast exams, mammograms, and pap smears equally to women of all weights as it is indicated, severely obese women are 10% less likely to be up-to-date on the screenings and are also much less likely to follow the advice of a doctor to have it done.

It is obviously now a priority to figure out exactly why obese women are so much less complaint. It's possible of course that women are simply embarrassed and uncomfortable wearing gowns and being examined, or possibly equipment in the clinics is inadequate.

For more information on preventing or managing cancer please visit The Cancer Blog.

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Seems like good healthcare always boils down to one thing: money. Doesn't matter that we can do something, instead it matters how much it's going to cost.

Case in point: Skin cancer screenings are not currently endorsed by the Institute of Medicine because there haven't been any studies done on a large enough scale to support the benefit, not even for one-time skin cancer screenings in people over age 50.

How can a screening not be beneficial?

But the good news is that there has been a study done on the cost-effectiveness of skin cancer screening, and the results are looking good. The hope is that with this new data the scale just may tip in favor of funding for a big enough trial to end the debate once and for all. All I can say is that it can't happen fast enough.

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Despite the fact that the number of women who should be getting mammograms (over age 40) has increased over recent years, surveys show that the number of women who actually had mammograms dropped slightly in 2005. This has health officials both concerned and a little confused, wondering why exactly this is. The most likely reason is the very fact that so many women are getting older and needing mammograms the resources and clinics are getting stretched to the max, or possibly that finances and personnel issues are causing complications.

Regardless, women are encouraged to continue to treat breast cancer as a serious risk and put mammograms at the top of their priority list, as often and their doctor recommends. And hopefully, now that this problem is out in the open, the health industry can make some moves to fix it.

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